Woman dies in Northwest Side home fire

February 22, 2013|Staff report

Chicago Tribune illustration (Nancy Stone)

A 73-year-old woman died following a fire this morning in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood, authorities said.

The preliminary cause of the fire was careless use of smoking materials said Chicago Fire Department Chief Joe Roccasalva. There were also no working smoke detectors found, according to the fire department.

Patricia Burns, of the 3300 block of North Kedvale Avenue, was pronounced dead on the scene after a fire at her home, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy conducted later determined that she died of heart disease and a secondary cause was a previous myocardial infarction and emphysema.

The Fire Department was called to the home about 11:10 and firefighters were able to keep the blaze largely confined to two rooms of the building, said Roccasalva. The woman was found in a back room of the home, Roccasalva said.

The woman was found on a couch in the home, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

At least two dogs died in the fire and at least two were rescued, Roccasalva said.

The two-story building with a garden apartment is family-owned, with the woman and her husband living on the first floor and other family members living in a garden apartment, police said. The woman was believed to have been home alone at the time of the fire, police said.VV

The victim had several tanks of oxygen in her home, some of which may have been delivered the morning of the fire, police said.

The Fire Department’s Office of Fire Investigations and police Bomb and Arson detectives were called to investigate, poilce said.